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Suncor’s Tailings Future A new tailings management approach

TM Trademark of Suncor Energy Inc.

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Tailings • Like all mines, oil sands

mines generate tailings • Tailings are

– left over mixture of fine clay, sand, water, residual bitumen

– produced during extraction process that separates bitumen from the oil sand

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Tailings Handling & Storage • Tailings are pumped into holding ponds to settle

solids from water – Heaviest material – mostly sand – settles to bottom – Water rises to the top – Middle layer – mature fine tailings (MFT) – is made up

of fine clay particles suspended in water

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The Tailings Challenge • Some MFT particles settle, but much remains

suspended in water • MFT takes many decades to firm up sufficiently for

reclamation • As a result, Suncor has need more and larger tailings

ponds over the years to store MFT

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Suncor’s Tailings Ponds • Eight ponds

– Covering a total of 26.8 square km

– Containing about 179 million cubic metres of MFT

• Active ponds – Account for nearly 15

percent of the 19,737 hectares of disturbed land Suncor is working to reclaim

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Wapisiw Lookout Pond 1A

Pond 2/3

Pond 5

Pond 6

Pond 7

Pond 8A

Pond 8B

South Tailings Pond

Suncor’s Tailings Ponds

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Speeding MFT Consolidation • Consolidating tailings (CT)

technology currently used to speed MFT consolidation

• CT process – Pioneered by Suncor in the

1990s – Adds coarse sand, gypsum to

MFT to accelerate release of water

• Suncor has developed a new and better process to further accelerate MFT consolidation called MFT drying

• MFT drying is a key TROTM process component


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CT: Mining Operation Life-Cycle

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TROTM Process – Overview

• TROTM process a new approach for managing tailings at our oil sands mining operations near Fort McMurray – Expected to result in significant

improvement in the speed of tailings reclamation

– Will help meet new regulatory requirements, changing stakeholder expectations

– More than $1 billion investment planned for implementation


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TROTM Process Overview


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TROTM Process: Mining Operation Life-Cycle


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How the TROTM Process Works • Process involves converting

MFT more rapidly into a solid landscape suitable for reclamation – MFT is mixed with a polymer

flocculent – Mixture is deposited in thin

layers over sand banks with shallow slopes

– Resulting product is a dry material that can be reclaimed in place or moved for final reclamation

– Drying process occurs over a matter of weeks


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About The Polymer • Adheres to clay particles in

MFT causing them to bundle together – Clay separates from the

water • A class of chemical used

in municipal water treatment to settle out solids – Safe, as it is inert and

does not react with the environment

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Expected TROTM Process Benefits

• Use of TROTM process to manage tailings: – Reduces need to build more

tailings ponds • MFT will be consumed more

quickly as it is generated – Accelerates reclamation

• Allows reclamation of mined areas soon after mining

– Reduces existing MFT inventory

• As MFT is consumed independently of plant operations, TROTM process can be used to reduce MFT inventory held in existing ponds


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TROTM Process Compared to CT: Time To Reclamation

• Use of TROTM over CT technology is expected to result in a shorter time to reclamation

• TROTM process – A reclaimable surface 10 years after initial

disturbance • CT

– A reclaimable surface 30 years after initial disturbance


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TROTM Process Implementation Under Way • More than $1 billion allocated

for full commercial scale implementation

• Heading into the 2011-2012 winter season, Suncor had: – Processed over 5 million tonnes

of tailings fines – Capacity to process 25,000-

30,000 tonnes of tailings fines per day

– Six TROTM process MFT drying systems


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TROTM Process Implementation Under Way

• Implementation project – First phase complete Q1

2012 – Second phase complete

Q4 2012 • Suncor on track to meet,

exceed fluid tailings reduction targets – As mandated by ERCB

under Directive 74


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TROTM Process Impacts – Now, In The Future • Fundamentally changing

how tailings are managed – 180 million tonnes of oil

sand processed annually – 50,000 tonnes of fine clays

ingested per day • Plans for five additional

tailings ponds cancelled • Expected to reduce tailings

ponds at mine site from eight to one – Total land area covered by

ponds to shrink by 80%


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TROTM Process – Tailings Collaboration • Suncor, six oil sands

companies to work together – A unified effort to advance

tailings management • Each company to:

– Share existing tailings research and technology

– Remove barriers to collaborating on future tailings research, development

• Suncor to share TROTM process details – Companies in turn committed

to future tailings research investments


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TROTM Process – Recognition

• Emerald Foundation – 2011 Emerald Challenge Award

• Alberta Chamber of Resources – 2011 Major Reclamation Award

• Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers – 2010 Responsible Canadian

Energy Award • ASTech Foundation

– 2010 ASTech Award


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For More TROTM Process Information • Visit http://www.suncor.com/tailings • View our TROTM process video • View our Reclamation video


http://www.suncor.com/tailings

http://www.suncor.com/en/newsroom/2625.aspx?id=3233



http://sustainability.suncor.com/2010/en/responsible/2634.aspx?id=3748

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